Equality of Believers
LESSON 11
❑
Friday
March 12
Part 6
CHRIST AND
THE LOWLY
2 Cor. 8:9
THINK IT THROUGH
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,
though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that ye through His poverty might be rich."
Christ was and is the flawless example of unselfishness. Can
we approach His example? We must! See Philippians 2:5-8.
What condescension! Who can contemplate it ! The great
God of creation humbled Himself in order to save. His regard
for the lepers, the poor, the outcasts, the adulterers, the beg-
gars, the publicans, the Canaanite woman, the Roman cen-
turion, the hated Samaritans—all show us that He felt the
most lowly were worth saving. He would have come for any
one of these or anyone else. All men were equal in His sight,
and as soon as one was won to Himself, He elevated and
ennobled and declared that one to be His son. To His followers
He declared, "All ye are brethren."
"The common people heard Him gladly" because He was
empty of pride and arrogance and racism and self-importance.
He made all men feel wanted and worthwhile. When He gave
the great commission to His disciples, He ordered them to go
into all the world. He would not overlook a single country, or
region, or jungle, or desert. Into all the world! Win all men.
After Christ's ascension the conquest of the gospel over the
Gentile world began with the black man from Ethiopia, and
it spread across the world. It reached all classes and all kinds.
It proclaimed liberty and brotherhood. It lifted men! It de-
clared that in Christ there is neither "Jew nor Greek, bond nor
free." All are
one.
The life of Christ becomes the life of the believer, and the
mind of Christ becomes the mind of the believer. He will
think and act as Jesus did, and humble himself as Jesus did.
What counsel did Christ give to those of high estate?
Matt. 23:11, 12.
Everything Christ lived and taught and did was diamet-
rically opposed to selfishness, racism, ostracism, discrimination,
and feelings of superiority. He delights in taking "nothing" and
producing "something." He takes the lowliest being, the most
downtrodden and degraded, the unwanted and unloved, and
makes of him a trophy, an example of the power of His grace.
Do I measure myself by others or by the flawless ex-
ample of Christ? Am I like Him? Or am I controlled by
the diseased laws of society? See "The Desire of Ages,"
page 649.
"No one was so exalted as Christ,
and yet He stooped to the humblest
duty. That His people might not be
misled by the selfishness which dwells
in the natural heart, and which strength-
ens by self-serving, Christ Himself set
the example of humility. He would not
leave this great subject in man's
charge."—"The Desire of Ages," page
649.
THE SECOND
MILE:
"The Acts of the Apostles," pages 332-334.
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